Miami mayor: Romney ‘exploiting the suffering of our people’

We talked on Thursday about a Spanish-language Romney/Ryan campaign ad, which is in heavy rotation in South Florida, trying to connect President Obama to Castro, Chavez, and even Che. The Obama campaign is taking the smear seriously enough to release an interesting counter-ad.

In this spot, viewers see one of South Florida’s least-partisan politicians, former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz (I), explain in Spanish, “Have you seen the latest Mitt Romney ad exploiting the suffering of our people? We’re tired of the same old, same old. President Obama doesn’t want to mislead us with demagoguery. He’s looking for the same thing we want.”

The ad then shows Obama, speaking in English above Spanish subtitles, saying, “We’ll continue to seek ways to increase the independence of the Cuban people, who I believe are entitled to the same freedom and liberty as everyone else.”

Diaz concludes, in Spanish, “[H[e’ll continue working seriously, with us, for a free and democratic Cuba. Of that, there is no doubt.”

The Miami Herald believes the ad itself is something of a breakthrough moment in American campaigning: “[T]his might be a presidential-campaign first: a Spanish-language pushback against another Spanish-language ad.”